


Sibling Rivalry

by shewhoguards



Category: The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
Genre: Family, Gen, Kid Fic, Spooky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 23:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewhoguards/pseuds/shewhoguards
Summary: Sometimes it's hard trying to measure up to the dead.





	Sibling Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skazka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skazka/gifts).

Caroline had been wandering the house as though in a dream when her brother leapt out from behind a door to startle her. Predictably she shrieked and he fled, laughing, rather than stay so that she could seek her revenge.

“You utter rotter!” She chased him down the stairs, nimble on her feet and never fearing a missed step. Why should she when she travelled them so frequently she could traipse up and down in her sleep practically without falling? “I thought you were a demon or something!”

“After Mother’s little speech this morning, I thought you might think I was the blessed Sukey, back from the dead.” He dodged out of her reach, keeping just out of grabbing distance.

“Back to tell us how poorly we measure up, you mean?” Caroline made a face at him. It had been a well-intended lecture perhaps, but the gist of it had been that, had Sukey still been alive, she would be behaving much better than them in every way.

“Well, I was going to say here to kill you so she can take your place, but your version is probably more likely.” For a moment Roddy too looked rueful, all too aware that neither of them were ever likely to earn their sister’s place as favourite.

“Ugh!” And the thought of it made Caroline stop chasing him, still disgruntled about the whole affair. She glanced about in case her mother was lurking, then spoke more quietly, “You know, sometimes I _hate_ Sukey.”

“One can’t help thinking that if she were still here, she might have been the sort of sister who was too sickening for words,” Roddy admitted. “You look positively decent by comparison.”

“Thanks!” He was close enough for Caroline to shove now, but she did so relatively gently, just as a reminder that brothers shouldn’t be allowed to get above themselves. “You know that--”

She stopped abruptly. There was a stranger standing in the hallway, a young man who looked unfamiliar. For a moment the pair eyed him with uncertainty, unsure whether he was the type of guest who might carry tales to their mother.

One of the maids -- Brenda? Bertha? Sometimes it was hard to remember their names! - came hurrying out to shoo him towards the kitchen. The children relaxed. Most likely one of the servants’ relatives; certainly not someone their mother would listen to at any rate.

“You know that Mother thinks she can still hear her?” Caroline went on, no longer caring if the stranger was there and listening.

Roddy nodded. “Sometimes when she thinks we’re not there I’ve caught her talking in the nursery,” he admitted.

“Do you think she’s crazy?”

Roddy considered and shrugged. “You never know. Maybe the old place _is_ haunted, and she _can_ hear us,” he suggested. “God knows, I’d swear we never make half the messes in there - not that anyone takes any notice of that when it’s time to tidy up.”

It was a joking suggestion; carelessly made and forgotten in a moment. The pair pushed past the young stranger in the hallway and raced off, not interested enough to be curious about who he was or had heard them. He stared after them, ignoring for the moment the maid’s attempts to chivvy him away from where the family might notice his presence.

In the nursery upstairs, untouched by human hand, the rocking horse began to rock.


End file.
